I just signed up today for the same reason. My drinking is causing problems in my marriage, my work, and my life. I tried to quit many times, but never seem to make it. When I give in, I just go more overboard and the problem grows. I really need help.
Both of you, a warm welcome. You are in the right place, among friends. This is a great place to get a taste of what AA can be like, what true recovery can be like. How a life without alcohol can be the best and most serene thing that ever happened to you!! Keep coming back!!
Joni
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~Your Higher Power has not given you a longing to do that which you have no ability to do.
It's good to be at a "jumping off point". Trouble is that we "get well" quickly, over the course of a few day/weeks, and forget that we have a problem with drinking. The biggest obstacle for us to realize that, because our drinking has progressed and that it can't revert back to years past, we can no longer drink safely. For me it's just not an option to drink anymore because my body just can't handle so I KNOW that I can't drink, and I don't drink, one day at a time.
Many of us came in here (AA) looking for a way to manage our drinking or to compare out (find reasons that we didn't have a drinking problem. We call it "having trouble with the first step" ("Admitted that we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable"). The more work that we can do convincing ourselves by reviewing our drinking behavior and the problems that it caused us, the better our foundation for sobriety.
AA is a great program for people who Want it, not just for people that need it. Getting sober must become a serious goal, or as the big book calls it "Our primary purpose". Welcome to you both and good luck in your new journey. Please stick around and help us to stay sober
Aloha Port and Zeb...Two of the "old timers" have already greeted you and you will find others who deeply care. In the newcomers I see myself when I first arrived knowing nothing about alcoholism and not even knowing that I new nothing about alcoholism. I came for the wrong reason (figure out an alcoholic spouse and why she couldn't drink like me) and then I had the good fortune to sit down in the group and listen and read the literature, Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and more. Over time after it being suggested that I not look at the differences between others drinking and my own but the similarities I came to nod at the awareness that booze owned me, every part of me and I had no control over it at all.
I can only suggest what worked for me and what I also did. It was suggested that I get to 90 meetings in 90 days and sit down, listen, don't talk because I didn't know anything about recovery (I did know quite abit about drinking but that is not what they were talking about) and follow suggestions. The area where I was raised in recovery had over 439 meetings a week in a tri-valley area. Was alcoholism a problem or not? The rest is history and also my present situation. I'm still following the suggestions and coming back because for me that is the only thing that has helped me keep the plug in the jug and the jug in the store.
If you want to stop?...for me this is what has worked. In support.
Hope you keep coming back. All of AA: meetings, this site(MIP), the BB, and the steps have been lifesaving and amazingly lifechanging. Thank you for posting.
Welcome to MIP, Port & Zeb. If alcohol is costing you more than money, it doesn't have to get any worse. A.A. & the Steps help me to stay sober on a daily basis 1Day@aTime & my life is infinitely better than how it used to be. I am grateful for my sober life today. It is a gift & miracle of recovery & with this I can grow & continue to move towards the dreams I always wanted for myself beginning with number one, a life without alcohol. There is a wonderful life without alcohol on offer through A.A. & I hope you find it & enjoy it as much as I have with the love & support of our fellowship & program. You are both so welcome & can access this through meetings too. I hope you'lll stay & share in your journey with us. All your posts will be gratefully received & replied to. We do this together. Thank you for being here. In God's love with support, Danielle x
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Progress not perfection.. & Practice makes Progress!
Hi Zeb and Port, Welcome to both of you. Everything Dean said is very true and everyone else as well. Coming to a realization that you need and want to stop drinking is the only requirement to belong to AA. If you want it to work...that's a different story. Yes the 90 meetings in 90 days is an ideal start and I am glad that I did it. Some things get better fast and some do not. It is a confusing,powerful, cunning, and baffling disease. The thing that takes time to get better is your spirit which for me was drowned with alcohol and ruled by fear. That is why it is a spiritual program and I would suggest both of you dig deep, think about your purpose in life, how alcohol is really derailing it, then take action in the form of going to meetings and working the program of AA. It has worked amazing things in my life and I am nowhere near through. Sitting, listening, and not speaking is a good idea depending on the type of meeting you are going to. Personally, I do not recommend that in full, especially if you have no sponsor for a while. Speaking and reaching out is integral to people getting to know you in AA and had you both just sat on the fringes here and not posted, there would be no responses to Zeb and Port...It's the same as in a meeting. With that said, the place to really speak out is in beginner's meetings and that is why those exist. To replace the old patterns and many of the old drinking friends, you need to make some new ones and let people support your new sobriety. So..I say go to a meeting (preferably a beginners one) and listen intently, but also speak up. God gave us ears and a mouth and for me, the process of recovery needed and continues to work going through both because the real enemy, my alcoholic brain, is in the middle of those 2 things and I have to fight that using all I have and with the help of a higher power (whether that be AA, the people in AA, or god). Welcome to both of you and keep coming back!! It's really important because we (collectively) need to listen to you to keep us sober as well. For me, I would love to see a thread by each of you telling a little more about where you are at right now. One thing is for sure though, you aren't alone and all of us came to the same revalation as well regarding our drinking and the state our lives ended up in as a result.
Mark
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
Now is the right time to stop, I got to that crossroads and carried on drinking. I wish I had joined AA, by continuing to drink I nearly lost my partner, family and friends. There is also another side of being an alcoholic that I was not aware of, the mental and physical aspect of the effect constantly drinking alchol does to your body. This was devistating and the suffering was almost unbearable at times. By joining AA I received an education, the support you have is unbelievable! Before joining I had been hospitalised a couple of times and seen by various professional bodies. This was no help, talking to someone who has not gone through the same thing did not help me in any way. If you were a compulsive gambler would you want to be councilled by someone who had never placed a bet? This is in no way to say these people cannot help, everyone is different but in my case it was not for me. I owe my life to AA as when I first attended a meeting I was so depressed and depondant I lost all hope.
